How To Make Money Online In South Africa 2024

If you’re looking for ways to make money online, you’re in the right place. In 2019, I had only R10 in my bank account, no job, and had just completed my Grade 12. I started searching for ways to make money online in South Africa and came across a lot of misleading information. However, I didn’t give up; I kept looking

I began getting involved in ‘Amabhanoyi'(aka Ponzi Schemes). Unfortunately, due to the lack of reliable information on legit ways of making money online methods, I ended up being scammed out of nearly R1000, which regrettably was borrowed money.

How To Make Money Online In South Africa

In this article, I aim to share my experience and ideas for making money online, acquired over 7 years of doing online jobs. I will categorize them based on the skills or investment required, ranging from those requiring significant skills or investment to those needing none. All of these ideas are suitable even for teenagers, and students.

Can I Make Money On My Phone Without Investment

Yes, you can easily make money online from your phone without having to invest any money. Doing survey for example is the best way to start earning money online in South Africa from your phone without investing money, the only thing you need to invest is your time. Time is money, right?

If you have never earned money online before and you don’t have money to invest. I recommend you try these 2 ways to make money online

Even though these 2 easiest ways to instantly earn money online will make you rich or R10K every month but is a great start for anyone looking for an online side hustle. I even created a Facebook group to inform you if there are new paying promos to participate in. You can join it on the button below.

Top 10 Ways To Make Money Online In South Africa


If you’re short on time or simply seeking a quick overview of the top online money ideas, the following table provides insights into the subjects I’ll cover. Use this as a starting point to determine which approach interests you. Afterward, you can go into a more informative explanation of your chosen method for making money online.

🥇Money Ideas💪Hardship💵Earning🤩Results
#10 Online Courses✅High⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐💀Mos – A Yr
#9 Forex Trading✅High⭐⭐⭐⭐💀Mos – Few Yrs
#8 Dropshipping☑️Very High⭐⭐⭐💀Mos – Few Yrs
#7 Freelancing☑️Moderate⭐⭐⭐📆Wks – Mos
#6 Virtual Assistance☑️Moderate⭐⭐⭐📆Wks – Mos
#5 Sell Digital Products✅Moderate⭐⭐⭐⭐🗓️Mos – A Yr
#4 Content Creation✅Moderate⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🗓️Mos – A Yr
#3 Affiliate Marketing✅High⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐📆Wks – Mos
#2 Promoter✅Low⭐⭐💵Days – Wks
#1 Online Surveys☑️Very Low💵Days – Wks

10. Start An Online Course

online course creation

Online courses have become a powerful way to share knowledge, gain new skills, and even make money. If you’re knowledgeable about a subject or passionate about teaching, creating an online course can offer a chance to reach a wide audience and make a real impact. However, turning your idea into a successful online course requires careful planning, creativity, and understanding of your learners.

Requirements to Create An Online Course
  • Platform to sell your course
  • Equipment to record and edit your course
  • Plan to promote it

Remember that creating a successful online course involves careful planning, dedication, and ongoing improvement based on learner feedback and market trends. Here is a crash guide to creating a successful online course

But this is the hardest way to start earning money online and also it requires time to see the results.

9. Learn Forex Trading

Learning forex trading has become the most popular way to go from broke to rich amongst South African Youth. Since trading has a low entrance barrier most people misunderstand it and think it must be also easy to start making money with. I blame the forex gurus that promote that idea, PYI trading is the hardest online business to start.

Make Money Trading Forex
Steps To Learn Forex Trading
  1. Get a forex Trading Mento
  2. Practice his/her teachings
  3. Then start small with areal account
  4. Then you can move to prop form funding

why trading is the best form of business forex trading, It teaches you how to control your finances better. By learning to trade you also acquire a career because if you build a solid portfolio you could be hired to trade a private equity but it takes time and effort to get to that point.

While there are risks, if you’re patient and keep learning, you could start from R0 to To R100K by trading private equity and Prop Firms here is a beginner guide to trading

8. Start A Dropshipping A Business

Dropshipping is an online store business where you don’t need to keep products in stock. Instead, when you receive an order from a customer, you purchase the item from a third party (like a wholesaler or manufacturer) and have them ship it directly to the customer. It’s usually automated not done manually.

How To Start Dropshipping South Africa

For example, on your store, you can list the sale of an R1.5K smartwatch then when someone purchases the watch you take the R1K and buy a watch from a retailer (aka Supplier) then R500 is your profit. This means you don’t have to worry about storing inventory or handling the shipping process yourself.

Requirements For Dropshipping in South Africa
  • E-commerce Platform or Website
  • Supplier Relationships or Directory
  • Payment Gateway
  • Marketing and Promotion Strategy
  • Legal Understanding (Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, etc.)
  • Shipping and Delivery Strategy
  • Financial Management (Tracking Income and Expenses)

It can be a way to start an online store with lower upfront costs and less logistical hassle, but it also comes with its own challenges, like finding reliable suppliers and managing customer expectations. Hers is a beginner guide to Dropshipping

Although there is an alternative way of Dropshipping called Dropselling, I believe Dropselling is easier compared to Dropshipping. With Dropselling you don’t need a website. you just need to get people who want to buy secondhand and then from your phone to go to the Facebook market to get products cheap and sell it to the person wanting the products.

7. Freelancing Jobs

Freelancing has been around for decades people quit their 9 to 5 jobs to become full-time freelancers because it allows them to be their boss. But it’s not easy to get started if you join the high competitive freelancing platform. Also having a high demanded skill will help you a lot.

Freelancing Jobs
Website For Freelancing
  1. Upwork
  2. Freelancer
  3. Fiverr
  4. Guru
  5. Toptal
  6. PeoplePerHour
  7. FreelanceWritingGigs
  8. SimplyHired

To become a freelancer you only need a skill that can be done online, No certificate or degree is required but having one can improve your credibility to get more gigs. “Gigs are freelancing jobs offer”.

If you believe you don’t have a skill that you can provide as a freelancer, don’t worry there are so many skills that you can learn in 1 to 3 Months and use them as a freelancer to earn yourself money. Here is a Freelancing beginner guide to help you get started.

6. Work As Virtual Assistance

COVID-19 had a significant push on the idea of working at home, which gives rise to virtual assistance jobs. There are less people doing Virtual Assistant jobs maybe its because you need to be multi-language specking.

Work As Virtual Assistance

The traditional 9-to-5 office job is not the only route to professional success. Instead, consider the world of virtual assistance where you can be hired to help customers on a particular business in any part of the world, that the beauty of working as a Virtual Assistant

Getting Started as a Virtual Assistant
  1. Figure out what services you’re skilled at providing
  2. Showcase your abilities with an online portfolio that displays your work samples, client feedback, and a professional bio.
  3. Set up a comfortable home office with the essential tools, such as a computer, reliable internet, and necessary software.
  4. Establish a strong online presence through social media, a personal website, and platforms like LinkedIn.
  5. Advertise yourself on Websites like Upwork, Freelancer, and specialized VA job boards that can help connect you with clients looking for your services.

5. Sell Digital Products

If you were not living under a rock, you remember the trend of NFTs back in 2021 with the most expensive NFTs of $91.8M sold. This was a stepping stone for the digital products market to grow. By having a hobby in art, music, or writing you are on the right track to make your first sale of a digital product.

Sell Digital Products editing on a laptop
Platforms To Sell Digital Products

It’s equally important to select a product that aligns with your expertise and passion. This combination will not only make the creation process enjoyable but also help you stand out in a competitive market. Here is a beginner guide to selling digital items on Etsy

4. Become A Content Creator

Content creation has taken me out of poverty, I was struggling financially and I personally know more than 11 people who are each making a living off as a content creator in South Africa. Istarted creating content in 2019 with the skill gained over the years I can confidently say it’s not too late for anyone to start creating content as a side hustle or full-time.

How Much Money Content Creators Make
Get Started as a Content Creator
  • Choose Your Niche or Focus
  • Set Up Necessary Equipment
  • Create and Edit Content
  • Choose Your Platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Blog, etc.)
  • Establish a Posting Schedule
  • Use Relevant Hashtags and Keywords (SEO)
  • Engage with Your Audience
  • Monitor Analytics and Adjust Strategies
  • Stay Consistent and Persistent

Ways to monetize your content

  1. YouTubers: from ads, sponsorships, and merchandise.
  2. Instagram Influencers: sponsored posts, merchandise
  3. Podcasters: ads, sponsorships, and merchandise
  4. Bloggers: Pads, sponsorships, and merchandise, guest posting

Here is a full guide on how to become a content creator, on any platform any niche.

3. Start Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has been around for many yaers , some people even say Affialiate marketing is over crouded but i agure not. Affialiate markeing is still a good way to start making money online. Personaly i hate Affilaiting phsyical producs, i belive starting afficliate markeing through digital products is the easyest roout to take.

Also there are other forms of marking like, CPA marketing where it is a type of Affiliate Marketing where you can earn money even if people dont buy any thing through your link.

Start Affiliate Marketing
Start Affilaite Marketing
  • Choose Niche
  • Join an Affiliate Network
  • Select the Offers you want to promote
  • Get traffic

I have been doing Affialiate Marketing myself for a while now. But as a beginner i would recommend you to start with CPA Marketing sicne it does not requre you to have a website to get started or accepted by Affilaite networks

2. Become A Promoter

When I talk about becoming a promoter am not talking about being an influencer but it’s something similar. The difference is that as a promoter you only need to find a company that is running a s promotion it can be a sigup and earn, share and earn, or post and earn.

Example Of Earning Money Doing Promo

Signup up with the company follow thir set rulles on how to earn on thet particullar promo currenlt available with them. Learn more about earning money throug promos.

1. Earn Money Doing Online Surveys

Aside from all this methods of earning money online ranging from Affiliate Marketing, Dropshipping, and Investing/Trading, so doing surveys is the easyest of them all since no skill or investment requred to start earning.

With Online Surveys youi simply create an acount and strt generating money but you need to know whichg survey app or website are worth tring

Earn PayPal Money Through Online Surveys
6 Apps/Websites to Earn PayPal Money
  1. Ipsos Isay
  2. Primeopinion
  3. Voissy
  4. Surveytime
  5. Ysense
  6. Lootup

Online Surveys offer you a chance to share your opinions on different topics while earning money for your time spent. So techincaly the only thing you invest is yur time

Here are the High paying survey website in South Africa if you to try if you are realy serious about earning money online.

Conclusion

Getting the best way to side hustle to invest your time and money in is realy hard that is why i have created this inbformatuina article for you so that you can easly desicde if you want to be creating online courses, getting into forex trading or dropshipping, freelancing, and content creation.

The options seems endless but just to summarise if you are new to making money online start with The easy methodsdoing survesy or becoming a content creator

Remember, achieving success online requires time and hard work. So, whether you’re a student aiming for extra cash or someone pursuing a full-time online career, the potential is out there ready for you to seize it.

Thabiso

A 23-year-old from (South Africa). Been earning money online since in 2017 before I even qualified to work. Completed my Grade 12 in 2019, and got my first job as an E-Cadre (ICT). Currently pursuing my degree in Marketing Management

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